WESTLAND, Mich. – In a time where people across the country are asking for transparency from their police departments, Westland Police Department’s efforts include a police community transparency dashboard.
Tickets, arrests and complaints of excessive use of force by the police are all broken down by number, race and gender.
It’s on the city’s website for anyone to see at any time.
- View here: Westland PD Community Dashboard
“This is something that the public has been asking for a long time,” said Westland police Lt. Robert Wilkie.
How those statistics trend can also be useful for the department internally.
“Data is what will drive the correct actions. So we saw something in the data that showed that maybe they had to work on their professionalism, just from looking at the data," said Gina Wilson Steward, president of the NAACP Western Wayne County branch. “You look at that and compare with the complaints that have been written and there is a correlation.”
Wilson Steward said she sees the information as a step that departments everywhere can take.
Wilkie said offering the information should instill trust in the community.
Related: Westland man says he was charged for an armed robbery he didn’t commit